Money Honey
Elvis idolized Clyde McPhatter , the lead singer with the Drifters , the originator of this song . Along with Bill Kenny of the Ink Spots , he possessed the kind of pure , ethereal tenor that Elvis sought all his life to emulate . In fact , it was another lead tenor , Johnny Bragg of the Prisonaires , a singing group that had been put together in the Tennessee State Prison in Nashville and recorded one of Sun ’ s first big hits , who first drew him to the Sun studio in the summer of 1953 to cut an acetate at his own expense and see if he could catch the attention of Mr . Phillips , whom he had read about in a newspaper account of the Prisonaires session .
“ Money Honey ” was a huge hit for McPhatter and the Drifters that fall ( it went to number 1 r & b ), and Elvis started singing it very early in his live appearances . After recording “ Heartbreak Hotel ” in the afternoon , he spent the entirety of his three-hour evening session on this one song , bearing down on the rhythm while still doing his best to maintain a controlled pace . The curious “ bagpipe ” effect of guitar and piano is recreated from the original , but Elvis ’ vocal is considerably more aggressive than McPhatter ’ s , whose tremulous natural falsetto and uncanny ability to draw out a single syllable into a dozen distinct notes showed a remarkable capacity to extend both meaning and suspense . Elvis recorded a number of other Clyde McPhatter and Drifters songs over the years ( including his tribute to their classic reworking of “ White Christmas ,” which was later revived by Otis Redding ), but what he really sought to evoke had more to do with the emotional openness and vulnerability of McPhatter ’ s music than specific vocal characteristics . His performance here would surely have delighted Steve Sholes if it had not been another r & b cover and if it had not taken three hours to record in a time slot that , by
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